Breadboard basics

You need to learn the pattern of metal rails that connect groups of holes in your proto board. Most designs have groups of 5 holes on opposites of a groove connected together, so you can plug a .3 inch wide integrated circuit package straddling the groove, with 4 additional holes for each pin to connect other parts. Along side of those sets of paired 5 hole groups are long rails running the opposite direction (parallel to the grooves) to act as supply distribution. Some designs have the long strips divided in half at the center and you have to add a small jumper at the center to have the rails go all the way along the board. Do you have a multimeter, yet? You can get one at Walmart for just a few bucks, and you will soon need it for your experiments. You can wrap a short length of bare wire around the probe tips, and explore what the grouping is on your board, before you try to use it to connect things together. Once you understand what you have to work with, there are no rules. You can plug the supply voltages in anywhere you want. You can use the long rails for supply distribution (if you have lots of things to connect to the supply) or you can use them to carry signals across the board. They are just connections, after all.

I found a picture of a typical contact layout:

Dear Frnd,

Actually I am not able to imagine the exact board which you are having, can you send me some photograph of the board,

But,you may use following tips :

1. Find out Va is being connected to other points in the breadboard? Where it is being connected, vertically or horizontally to the holes.

1. Take care that power supply positive and common does not short through the breadboard, atleast check the connection twice before

switching ON

Hope this will help you. You can e-mail me on yuvraj snipped-for-privacy@yaho.co.in Regards YUVRAJ Service & Development Engg INDIA

You mention that the supply has only the two wires - I'm assuming it has a selector switch for the voltage? If so, then yes, the black wire goes to the "Ground" post, and the red one can go to any one of the three - that's your call (which is why they only have them labeled a, b, & c - you can call them anything you want to.).

Then, I have seen those protoboards where they already have the buses connected to the posts, but mine isn't like that, so I have to actually wire from the posts to the buses where I want power and ground. If yours _does_ have the posts connected to the buses (underneath or whatever), then it should be clearly documented in the instructions. Otherwise, just use the same #24 wire as you use for your breadboarding. A handful of that 25-pair telephone trunk cable is a fabulous source of wire for that sort of thing - you can even color-code your stuff. Or, if you want it to look all cerebral, get some #24 bare tinned bus wire and some #24 teflon tubing...

Have Fun! Rich

Those connectors are called "binding posts".

Yes.

Would I use the matching

Yes.

And where should I put

Yes - your red power supply wire connects to the red post - Va and your black power supply wire connects to the black post - Vb.

What do I do about the ground?

Ignore it and Vc, at least for now.

You connect a jumper wire to each of the posts (Va, Vb). The other end of the jumper wire is plugged into a hole in the breadboard. Usually, you use a short jumper from the red binding post to one of the red color coded holes in the long strip immediately below the binding post. Repeat fro the black binding post, putting the other end of the wire into one of the blue color coded holes. That makes all red color coded holes in that strip +, and all blue color coded holes -.

Then you use separate jumpers from your circuit to any one of the color coded holes in the strip.

Electrically, your board looks like this (one vertical strip shown):

(Va) (Vb) (Vc) (Gnd)

.........................................Red .........................................Blue

|| ..... || || ..... || || ..... || || ..... || || ..... || || ..... || || ..... ||

etc

All | characters are connected vertically and not connected horizontally. All . characters are connected horizontally and not connected vertically.

Note that there is no connection to Va, Vb, Vc or gnd - you must supply the connection you want with jumpers.

Ed

Here's a site that tells you how to use breadboards, with pictures.

Go there, click on construction, then click on breadboard.

Thanks to Mark, a friend in Australia, who pointed it out.

Ed

Just wanted to say thanks to all who responded. I'v got my breadboard setup, and my first projet working: the LED lit up!!

Onward to the next project!

GO! ME!

LOL